


New Memories

by Makira820



Series: Cupboard Full of Pandas [5]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Day At The Beach, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25755028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Makira820/pseuds/Makira820
Summary: The entire Niijima family enjoys a day at the beach.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: Cupboard Full of Pandas [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561558
Kudos: 44





	New Memories

_August 2033_

A family beach trip. Eventually they'd be going on one, and with Tae on summer vacation and Soji starting school next year, now seemed like as good a time as any. It was prudent that they made some happy memories together before their oldest child hit her teen years and subsequently wanted nothing to do with her parents for whatever reason. Or maybe Makoto was just being a paranoid mother and Tae would end up being one of those children that stayed with them well into their college days. Either way, the beach seemed nice.

 _Nicer_ with the whole Niijima family tagging along, including Sae. It took a bit of convincing on Makoto's part, but eventually she was able to persuade her sister to don her seldom-used, black swimsuit and join the family for some fun in the sun. Even if all she would do is lounge in a chair and suck up all the vitamin D she was apparently deprived of, according to Makoto. Sae had zero intention of actually touching the water today.

So here they were at Isshiki Beach. Perfect weather and relatively not too crowded for shy Soji's sake. A hyperactive Tae began dragging her father by the hand not too long after they found a parking space, not wasting a second after he grabbed half of their load out of the back of the car. Conversely, Soji stuck close to his mother, holding her one free hand as the other was occupied by the other half of their supplies that her husband wasn't permitted to carry by their daughter. Sae only carried her own bag full of items she deemed more essential to a beach outing than a giant inner tube shaped like a panda. Today was off to a wonderful start…

Makoto, Sae and Soji eventually caught up with Akira and Tae outside one of the food stalls along the boardwalk. Tae was eagerly bouncing up and down as her father ordered a small cone of vanilla ice cream for the girl.

"You're getting ice cream already?" Makoto asked with a sigh. She wasn't mad at Akira, just disappointed that he couldn't convince Tae to hold off until after they went swimming.

"Just a small one," Akira reasoned, "...to keep her occupied. You guys want anything?"

Makoto shook her head, to be imitated by Soji who always agreed with mommy. Akira and Tae then turned their attention towards Sae. They had the same look on their face, as if the same train of thought ran through both of their minds as they awaited her answer. _Mischief_ , Sae knew it to be afoot. But at the same time, it _was_ rather hot outside today. And she didn't plan on swimming so getting an upset stomach wasn't on her itinerary. What the hell, why not? She was here to enjoy herself with her family.

Sae turned to the confectioner as she looked up at the menu. "I'll have...a vanilla cone. Dipped in coconut flakes. And dark chocolate drizzle."

The man prepared her cone to order, then handed it to Akira who was closest to the counter, who then handed it to Sae after briefly swapping hands. Tae's smirk went unnoticed as she took another lick of her own ice cream. Makoto looked at the ice cream her sister now held, then to her husband with a narrowing stare. She _knew_ he did something, and she _knew_ Tae was in on it. But the repressed look of satisfaction on Sae's face as she took a small lick of her treat was enough for her to just let things be. For now at least.

Upon finding an ideal plot of sand, Akira and Makoto got to work setting up their things. An umbrella overlooked their oversized beach towel with a print of, as one might easily guess, a panda. Surrounding the towel while simultaneously acting as anchors were three folding chairs and two lounge chairs, the latter reserved for Makoto and Sae so they could have some relaxation and quality sister time while Akira took the kids playing.

Sae took a seat in her lounge chair, cone in hand. She felt a belt juvenile looking forward to eating ice cream in the middle of the day, but knew no one in their family would judge her. She took a larger lick this time to catch up with the melting, allowing herself to openly display how good it tasted. As she went in for another taste, she heard a crack, then a plop. And suddenly her bare thighs were wet with melted ice cream. It fell straight into her lap.

Sae groaned loudly. "Oh, son of a bit-...butcher." 

She angrily rummaged through her bag beside her, looking for napkins. Before she could find them, she heard a beep. Something electronic. At first she thought she pressed something unintentionally, but then she remembered she left her phone in the car at the request of Makoto. No, the beep came from behind the nearest folding chair.

Poking her head out from behind the chair was Tae, flashing her little smirk and holding up a camera pointed at her aunt. She had caught the entire, orchestrated event on video.

"...delete it. _Now._ " Sae firmly demanded.

Tae stood up and stuck her tongue out at her aunt. "If you want it, come get it."

So that was their plan. They _sabotaged_ her ice cream cone and waited for the inevitable. And now they wanted her to chase them? No, absolutely not. That was _not_ going to happen.

Suddenly, Akira chimed in with his own provocation. "Sweetie, your aunt Sae is 42-years-old. Her _elderly_ bones can't handle much running."

Ok, it was happening. Sae jumped to her feet and reached for her niece, who was unfortunately much too quick in her reaction time and evaded capture with ease. Tae tossed the camera to her father who had already gotten a head start as Sae changed targets and chased after him in a full sprint.

Makoto thought that maybe she should intervene as the only adult here, apparently. But really, who was she to deny her sister the opportunity to teach her husband and daughter a lesson she was all too eager to teach them? Soji was gleefully playing in the sand beside her and she could really use the sunlight herself. So, she stretched out on the lounge chair and relaxed as she tuned out Sae's yelling and Tae's laughing in the distance.

Eventually Sae had Akira and Tae cornered near some rocks, or so she thought. The partners in crime took a sharp turn into the water, looking back only to shoot Sae their matching, daring smirks. They thought that either they'd won and Sae wouldn't pursue, or that Sae _would_ pursue and they would have succeeded in getting her to get in the water. Amazing how they somehow devised this dastardly plan in the five minutes they spent alone at the ice cream stand.

Sae chose option two. Partially because she wanted to strangle Akira but also because she had ice cream all over her. Getting in the water wasn't such an off-putting idea if it meant no longer being sticky. She marched through the waves, kicking up seawater with each step as she made her way towards Akira.

See, this is where Akira realized he made a mistake. The camera wasn't waterproof, only water resistant. He couldn't back up any further into the deeper water, thus he truly _was_ cornered now.

"Oh? You're not going to run?" Sae asked, now wading through the waist deep water.

He had to improvise. "Okay, okay, okay. Let's just calm down and talk this out like adults."

Sae scoffed as she continued approaching like a shark stalking its prey.

"L-Look, I'll delete it!" Akira fumbled with the buttons on the camera, pretending to delete the video. "See? All gone. We're good."

"So you wouldn't mind letting me see it for a moment?" asked Sae, calling his bluff.

A moment of shared silence passed as Akira considered his options. He chose to _live._ Taking advantage of the approaching wave, he dove beneath the surface, keeping only the hand holding the camera above the water as he swam past Sae. His preservation of the camera was his downfall, however. Sae grabbed his wrist with one hand and the back of his head with the other. She dunked him down deeper into the water while attempting to pry the camera from his grasp.

"LET GO OF THE CAMERA, AKIRA!" Sae yelled.

"GULULULULARGH!" he yelled back.

Once again, Tae went unnoticed as she stepped away from her roughhousing dad and aunt. She returned moments later with a beach pail she found abandoned in the sand. After filling it with seawater, she circled around her aunt and approached from behind.

_Sploosh!_

Sae inhaled sharply as she was deluged with water. Her hair had been kept dry, until now that is. She turned around and glared at her niece through her now drenched strands of hair. Tae was _laughing,_ the little monster.

"...You're going to pay for that." Sae said upon releasing her brother and instead setting sights on his kid. She grabbed Tae under her arms and lifted her up out of the water, then tossed the child into the deeper water.

All the while, Tae was screaming and laughing.

Back at the plot, Makoto was totally relaxed. She rested on her stomach with her head on her arms and turned to the side. She might have allowed herself to fall asleep if she didn't feel a tiny finger poking her cheek. She lifted her sunglasses and opened her eyes to see little Soji standing beside her lounge chair.

"Yes, what is it sweetie?" Makoto asked. "Do you have to go potty?"

Soji shook his head. "For you," he said as he stuck his open palms out in front of him. In his small hands were a multitude of assorted red and blue seashells.

Makoto swore her heart would explode in that moment. Her little baby boy collected seashells for her. He even coordinated them to match the colors commonly associated with mommy and daddy in all of his drawings.

"Awwwww, Soji..." Makoto sat up and hugged her sweet little angel. "Thank you so much! I love these."

Little Soji beamed with joy at his mother's gratitude. He went to go dump them all into Makoto's bag before she stopped him. Confused, he turned to her while clutching the shells.

Makoto smiled as she explained. "It wouldn't be fair of us to take these beautiful shells from their home, would it? I have a better idea…"

Pail and shovel in one hand and her son's hand in the other, Makoto led them to the damp sand near the water. Soji watched curiously as his mother filled the pail with sand, then flipped it upside down and lifted it up, leaving a small tower of sand.

"We can use your shells to decorate a sand castle! Would you like to build one with mommy?" Makoto asked redundantly. Soji was already scooping up sand with his hands and shaping it into a mound.

20 minutes later, their sand castle was finished. It featured several by-the-book sand castle towers made by Makoto and even more free form constructions by Soji. Scattered all around were the red and blue seashells, with little "shell people" arrangements in the tiny courtyard. They represented their happy little family—blue shells for mommy, red shells for daddy, purple shells for Soji and Tae, and silver shells for aunt Sae. Not bad for a mother and son who both had never made a sand castle before. 

As if on cue, Sae returned to the plot. She was drenched head-to-toe. Sand stuck to her feet with each step. The cardigan she wore over her swimsuit clung uncomfortably to her back. Her hair? An absolute mess. But clutched tightly in her hand was her prize: the _camera._ She won, leaving her half-conscious brother-in-law at the other end of the beach for her niece to bury.

"Oh, sis. You're...soaked?" Makoto noted with a raised brow. "Wait, did you actually go swimming?"

Sae continued walking without comment.

"Well, since you apparently got the camera back," Makoto said, "would you mind taking a picture of us with our sand castle?"

Sae turned around and looked down at their creation. A slight smile appeared at the corner of her lips. "Not at all."

Makoto pulled Soji into her lap as she hugged him from behind. Positioning her face beside his, the two of them smiled as they heard the beep of the camera go off. After confirming the shot with Makoto, Sae left for her lounge chair for a much needed rest.

Sae leaned back all the way into her chair after removing her soggy cardigan. A long withheld exhale that suggested fatigue escaped her lips as she closed her eyes. She knew Akira was only teasing, but maybe he was right. Maybe she was getting old. As she was about to fall asleep, she overheard Makoto and Soji down in the water.

"Noooooo…!"

"It's okay, sweetie. Mommy's right here. I'm not gonna let you go."

Sae suddenly remembered Soji couldn't swim yet, and that Makoto had intended to teach him on this trip. She looked over at the rest of their stuff, namely the panda shaped inner tube. 

"...No. Forty-two is barely even middle aged," Sae proclaimed to herself. Soon after, she was once again treading through water, this time with a ridiculous looking panda floaty under her arm.

_Later that day…_

The sun set behind them as Makoto drove them home. Akira offered to drive, but she knew her husband drew the short straw in having to keep Tae entertained all day. He was exhausted, too exhausted to even talk back at Sae's underhanded jab at _his_ ripe old age of 34. Makoto and Sae would sit up front while he and the kids took the back seats.

As the beach faded from view, Makoto leaned up to look at her husband and kids in the rearview mirror. He was sound asleep with his head tilted back. As were they but instead with their little heads rested against both of his shoulders. Soji looked especially adorable doing so while in his booster seat. To her left, Sae too had drifted into a light slumber. Luckily her snoring blended in with the white noise of the air conditioning.

If she weren't driving, she'd take a picture of them all to add to the dozens they took today. Too bad. She'd just have to settle for burning this moment into her memory. The day she spent at the beach with her whole family.

It was a good memory to have.

**Author's Note:**

> Random HC: Sae regressed somewhat maturity-wise so that she wouldn't intimidate her niece and nephew like she does her brother-in-law. I hope I conveyed that well lol


End file.
